The Haven High Book Series (Wattys2017)

Chapter 23

When it occurred to Zach that Knight was toying with him and he had no intention of striking first, Zach lunged for him, but in his naïveté he overstepped his balance, and when he overextended his reach, Knight easily slashed his blade across Zach's forearm making him hiss deep in his throat.

A collective gasp could be heard from the gathered crowd that now circled the arena like it was the UFC match of the century.

Zach blinked the sweat out of his eyes. The pain in his arm was explosive and all too real. Knight wasn't dicking around and Zach didn't need to be a genius to know he was screwed. Thankfully, the Kevlar of his jumpsuit stopped most of the damage to the muscle of his forearm, but not all of it.

Zach was finding it hard to grip the sword properly, and the blood was already coursing from the wound and dripping down toward his elbow to land in droplets on the black mat underneath his feet.

Zach expected the match to be stopped and to be given the troll bile to deal with the gash, but Knight continued to stalk him and feint toward a now much more leery Zach, who shied away like he had in the first few days. All his bravado had vanished after the drawing of first blood.

When Knight sneered, "Again!"

Zach got the impression that he meant to have him continue to strike out with his sword so that Knight could easily slice him to pieces. Then the so-called once and honorable knight would be justified in turning him into a human pincushion. After all he would only be defending himself.

When Lauren called out, "Drop the sword Zach," and he saw the piteous look on her face something inside him snapped.

He growled deep in his throat and lunged at his opponent over and over again and at first he missed every time, and he received a new gash each time for his troubles. After a time though he was able to stop some of the blows before Knight struck and his sword rang with satisfaction, but other times he failed to block the blow and now his arms and legs and even sides were riddled with gashes and they told the tale of his inexperience.

In between great gulping exhausted breaths and moments of intense pain, Zach's head began to hurt and he heard the now familiar ringing in his ears. It was then that the voices came rushing in, and Zach was powerless to stop them.

At first it was just a garbled mess, but then they took on clarity as one voice after another came to the fore.

Poor Zach . . .

Brah gonna kill him . . .

Why aren't the teachers breaking this up . . .

Where is Principal Tuma . . .

Should I go get Principal Tuma . . .

He even heard a few of the voices he didn't recognize calling him a pussy and a loser.

These mysterious other students clearly thinking if Knight had a hate on for him; well didn't he deserve this.

While Zach thought between blocking blows or not:

And wasn't that how all bullying started?

Zach heard Knight's voice clearly in his head:

He thought with derision:

Look at them all taking pity on the Nephilim?

Then the garbled voices in the crowd came rushing to the fro again:

He's going to kill him!

Oh my God someone needs to stop this. . .

I'm getting Tuma . . .